ON THE WORLD'S HIGHEST PLATEAUS
and I noticed some Turkis waiting like
vultures to swoop on the fallen animal
and rob him of his hoofs, horseshoes, and
skin, which they sell on bazaar days in the
neighboring town. I have been told that
they make a very good profit out of this
business during the four months that the
pass is open for caravan travel.
Once across the pass, a guard of honor
sent by the Chinese magistrate of the next
city surrounded us and led us with sur
prising speed down the Sanju Valley. As
every village through which we passed
added at least two officials to our party,
we soon had about 24 riders with us. An
other six officials greeted us a mile before
we reached the city of Guma, or Pishan,
and our party, galloping at top speed, ar
rived in a most theatrical manner, wrapped
in a cloud of dust.
The Chinese magistrate, or amban, of
fered us a delicious dinner: beans in sugar
water and a strong native liquor are all I
can remember of this meal, which lasted
several hours. Soldiers accompanied us
home, and a sentinel was placed before
our door, for the amban wanted to keep
us here until he had received word from
the Governor General; but, as the Gov
ernor was some 800 miles away and as a
telegram from Kashgar (which is six days
from Guma) to the capital, Urumtsi, re
quires two weeks, we protested energeti
cally against our imprisonment.
Finally we succeeded in starting from
Guma to Yarkand, a great city on the
caravan road which runs to Kashgar along
the southern edge of the Takla Makan
Desert.
DUNES OVERLAP THE ROAD TO YARKAND
On this ride we first became acquainted
with the desert. The road to Yarkand is lo
cally overlapped by migrating sand dunes.
which stretch in endless waves northward
up to the Tien Shan and eastward to the
Gobi. This desert has been advancing for
at least 1,500 years, and where the monot
onous dunes now spread were once flowers
and orchards and rich human settlements,
the ruins of which pierce through the shift
ing sands.
A short stay at Yarkand was a pleasant
break in our journey to Kashgar, for it
was here that we were welcomed by mem
bers of the Swedish Mission. They were
the first white people we had seen in four
and a half months, and to be received with
open-hearted hospitality naturally meant a
great deal to us.
In this remote corner of central Asia
the Swedes have established a number of
schools and dispensaries which do a great
deal to relieve the sufferings of the native
population. No matter what one's opin
ion of mission work may be, the idealism
and courage with which these small com
munities pursue their difficult task deserve
full admiration.
This westernmost territory of China
seems only slightly touched by the rapid
development which has enabled neighbor
ing countries, such as India and Russian
Turkestan, to outgrow some of their prim
itive standards. It is a country without
any industry in the modern sense, without
any higher native schools - a country
where harmless bicycles are smashed by
an infuriated mob, which is proud of hav
ing killed these "messengers of hell."
For
more than two thousand years it was a play
ground for Asiatic imperialistic powers.
Mongol emperors, Chinese and native po
tentates, and even generals of Alexander
the Great's army, conquered its fertile
oasis.
The population of Chinese Turkestan
reflects the racial intermingling of the
once conflicting tribes. It would be a mis
take, however, to think that this country
throughout its history was dominated by
half-Mongolian and half-Turkish or Ti
betan tribes, for there is ample evidence
that its ancient inhabitants were nomads
of Aryan stock. Relics of their ancient
culture are scattered all over the country,
whether in the form of highly artistic
wall paintings, or in ancient documents
written in Uiguric Sanskrit dialect, or in
the form of some few living descendants
of the blue-eyed, fair-complexioned race.
Nowadays, only a small percentage of the
population is Chinese, but these hold the
important offices (see Color Plate XII).
At Kashgar, the Chinese Governor re
ceived us cordially and promised us his
help in carrying out our future plans.
We now decided to divide into two par
ties. While my two companions wanted
to cross the southern part of the desert,
between Kashgar and east of Khotan, a
journey of about 300 miles, in quest of
geographic and archeologic data, I set out
for geographic and geologic exploration
in the western Kunlun Range. But March
had arrived before I could cross the higher
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